Industrial process control system

A control system for controlling an industrial process sytsem, including:

• a plurality of controlled devices and associated device controllers for effecting control of process parameters, said controlled devices and associated device controllers interconnected through a communications link means to a control interface, said interface including a visual display means having a visual display surface associated therewith and means for generating symbols thereon representative of the system process parameters;
• a touch-responsive means overlying said display surface and through which said symbols are visible and means for detecting the touching of selected surface areas on said touch-responsive means corresponding to a selected displayed symbol representing an associated parameter, said selected areas including at least a first area for incrementing the associated parameter and at least a second area for decrementing the associated parameter;
• means for generating a first signal in response to touching the first area and a second signal in response to touching the second area, said first and second signals varying as a function of the time that said first or second respective area is touched, said first signal effective to increment the associated process parameter as a function of the time that the first area is touched and said second signal effective to decrement the associated process parameter as a function of the time that the second area is touched;
• the change in the process parameter in response to said signals causing a change in said selected display symbol on said display screen;
• said first and second areas being linearly displaced from one another along a line, said symbol being displayed linearly therebetween and increasing lengthwise in response to said first signal and decreasing lengthwise in response to said second signal.

A control system for controlling an industrial process, said control system comprising:

• a plurality of controlled devices and associated device controllers for effecting control of said controlled devices, said controlled device being proportionally operable through an operating range between first and second operating states;
• said controlled devices and associated device controllers interconnected through a communications link means to a control interface, said interface including a visual display means having a visual display surface associated therewith and means for simultaneously generating symbols on said display surface representative of said controlled devices said symbols each including a displayed analog characteristic representing the proportional state of the controlled device represented thereby;
• a touch-responsive means overlying said display surface and through which said display symbols are visible;
• means for detecting the touching of selected areas of said touch-responsive means corresponding to displayed symbols on said visual display surface including at least one first area located at each symbol and at least one second area located at each symbol;
• means for generating a first control signal in response to the touching of said first area and for generating a second control signal in response to the touching of said second area, said first control signal effective to cause the controlled device represented by the corresponding symbol to move toward said first operating state and said second control signal effective to cause the controlled device represented by the corresponding symbol to move toward said second operating state, the response of the controlled device being displayed on said visual display screen as the analog characteristic of the corresponding symbol.